The Very Thoughtful of You
by ATimes
Summary: There a girl named Rime Tachibana, she is staying in her old home but there something wrong during her left. (IchigoxOC)
1. Chapter 1

**Rime's PoV**

I remember that it hurt. Everything hurt. Now, I am just numb.

As I walked down the familiar streets from my childhood, I remembered things that I would have liked to stay forgotten. I only came back to this town because I had no other option. If there had been another, I would have chosen it in a heartbeat. There were too many memories here. Just looking at the street I would walk down everyday after school caused my heart to wrench painfully in my chest. _I don't, I don't care. _I kept repeating those word in my head, It I believed it, then it would be true.

I was repeating my mantra as i walked through the doors of café, Black Ship. There, I immediately spotted Johji Chakura, who was surrounded by 5 other guys. They seemed to be around my age, in high school. They were all talking at once, minus one who seemed to be engrossed in comic book.

Over the noise, no one had heard the chime from the door as I walked in. I awkwardly stood there for almost a minute before finally clearing my throat and speaking up. "Excuse me?" No response. "Excuse me?" I said, a bit louder. Still nothing. _Oh,god._ _What an annoying bunch_. I sighed before shouting, "HEY!" This got their Attention.

Everyone was looking a me. I hated this sort of attention, but stared back with my usual blank expression.

Finally, Johji broke the silence. "Rime! Well... As you can see here, things are kind of busy right now. Sorry about that."

"Right," I replied, my expression never once changing.

"Well, I'll help you carry all your stuff upstairs."

He reached out to grab on of my suitcases, but was interrupted by the boy with black hair. "Upstairs? Is she ...moving in?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? It must have slipped my mind. This is Rime Tachibana. She'll be living here and helping out with the café. Rime. This is Haruki Tanemura, Ryuzo Hatta, Takeshi Yuno, Rihito Hatsune and Ichigo Sato," he introduced me to them with a friendly smile on his face.

The intimidating on, Ryuzo began to yell at Johji. "Jo! How could you?! She's just a child!"

"Hey! Don't get the wrong idea! She's moving back to town and needed a place to stay. I'm an old friend of her family, that's all."

"Moving _back_ to town? You've lived here before? You do seem kind of familiar." The feminine blonde asked me.

Before I could answer, Takeshi-the one who had been reading a comic book up until now-spoke up. "Little duck."

That was all he said, but it brought back so many memories. I remembered all of them now. The 6 of us were best friends growing up; inseparable.

Is seemed the others remembered as well, and I was soon bombarded with question. "Why are you back?" "How are you?" They were all curious, expect for one.

Ichigo. He simply stared at me with an unreadable expression. I was grateful that there was no-one who didn't want to pry into my personal business.

As for the others, well, I had no intention of answering them. _I don't care, I don't care._ Yet, I knew they wouldn't stop until I said something. I shrugged my shoulders, "I didn't like Germany as much as i did here. It was boring there." This wasn't a lie. I was bored there. But, I would give anything to be back in Germany. Or any other place for that matter, And yet, fate had decided otherwise. Fate was cruel and merciless. I had learned that the hard way.

I'm not sure they brought it, at least not all of them. I couldn't care less what they thought, though. I just wanted to get out of here. Luckily, Johji intervened.

"Well, I'm sure you're tired. You should go get settled in upstairs," he suggested, a smile still on his face.

"Yeah, okay," I replied, disinterested. I grabbed my bays and went to walk upstairs when I met Ichigo's eyes. He wore the same expression as before, but then he faintly smiled at me. I didn't smile back. I'd been forcing smiles for weeks, now. I was tired of it, and it's not like I actually gave a damm if anyone found me rude or unfriendly.

Looking away, I saw Johji give me a worried glance before mouthing, _Are you okay?_ I didn't say yes. If I did, it would be lying. And I don't lie.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ichigo's PoV**

Seeing her was a shock but I was also happy. Now, as I iced cakes at my families' shop, I couldn't seem to get Rime out of my head.

I'd thought about her so many times over the past 10 years. I'd never forgotten her dark blonde and beautiful grey eyes. She's my first love; my only love.

I imagined what happen if she came back. How happy she would be to be able me again. How I would tell her I'm still in love with her, and how i always will be.

But the reality was nothing like that. She didn't seem happy to be back at all. And she certainly didn't seem happy to see me. She never even acknowledged my presence. No, "Ichy! I'm back!" or "I've missed you!" Not ever a smile.

Her demeanor was the complete opposite of how she used to be. Rime was the most cheerful person I'd known. Now, it seemed like she just waned to shut everyone else out. She ever dresses differently. Her old cute, colourful clothes were replaced with more edgy style. Grey shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, black painted fingernails, dark eyeliner and lipstick. She even had blue and purple highlight in her hair. Not that it didn't look good on her, I happened to like that sort of stuff. It just wasn't how I thought she would look like.

Was it just my imagination? Could Rime really be that different? Setting clothes aside, her behavior seemed dark. It was hard o believe the friendly Rime, who liked everyone, could be that unsociable. _She was probably just tired from the long flight, _I told myself. _I'm sure the next time I see her she'll be back o her normal self._

I remembered our time together as children and found myself grinning. I used to tease her all the time. I was little kid, I wanted her attention because I liked her. People tell me I still haven't really changed, though. Of course, that's not true. I admit, I'm not the best at communicating, but I've grown up.

The next day, as I stared walking to school, I spotted Haruki, Takeshi and Ryuzo. I quickly caught up to them. Haru was talking about something, with the other two listening intently.

"...Hey."

Haru turned around when he heard my voice. "Ichigo! Finally, we thought you were skipping again."

I wasn't really interested in what Haru thought of me as much as what they were talking about before. "So, what did I miss?"

"Oh, we were talking about Rime."

_Rime?_ "What about her?" I asked, trying to indifferent.

"She's starting at our school on Monday. She'll be in the same as me, you and Takeshi, as well."

I tried to act like I didn't care. The guys wouldn't let my live it down if they new I was excited. However, that didn't exactly work.

"You must be happy," Take said with a smirk.

"Huh? I don't give crap what class she's in!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, really? If I remember correctly, which I do, you had a huge crush on her growing up."

I groaned internally. Was it the obvious?

"She _is _ very pretty. And you never went out with any other girl," Ryuzo added.

That was true. Her dark blonde hair and beautiful grey eyes made her on of the prettiest girl I've known. And I've had other girls ask me out before, but I never said yes. Women are such a pain.

After 7 hours of total boredom, we headed to _Black Ship_. he minute I walked through the door, I spotted her cleaning the counter. Rihito was sitting down, trying to talk to her.

"Jo! Coffee!" Ryuzo yelled.

Rime looked up at this, but quickly looked away again.

Before long, we were all sitting down at our normal table. "Hey Rime, why don't you come sit with us?" Rihito asked with his puppy dog face.

"No thanks," she said without even looking up.

An awkward silence fell over the room. "So, what was living in Germany like?" Haru asked.

"Fine."

She was still acting disinterested and cold. _Is it really just let lag? _I began to wonder.

The rest of the evening proceeded in the same way. We would try to talk to her, but she just kept evading our questions. Eventually, she just went upstairs claiming to be tired.

When it was closing time, I was walking out the door when Jo called out to me. "Ichigo, wait! Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I turned around, "What's up?"

He looked slight uncomfortable. "It's just... It's about Rime."

This got my interest. "Yeah... What's up with her? She's acting strange."

"Look... I know you like her and all, but..."

"Wha-? I don't like her!" _How the hell everyone know?_

__"Sure. Anyway, the point is that... She just need some space. And a Friend, but nothing more. Not right now." This, naturally, confused me.

"What are you talking about? What's wrong with her?"

He sighed and said, "It not my place to say."

"If something's wrong with her, you should tell me. As my friend," I persisted.

"No, I shouldn't." Now he looked outright way.

"Fine. Whatever, it's not like I actually care!" I stormed out of the café, furious at him for not telling me, and mad at myself for not being able to do anything.


	3. Chapter 3

**Rime's PoV**

On Monday morning, I found myself walking with Takeshi, Ryuzo, Haruki and Ichigo to school. I would have rather walked by myself, but that didn't happen. 20 minutes earlier, I exited _Black Ship_ and found them waiting fro me. "Let's all walk together, just like old times!" Haruki had said. It was much easier to agree than to try to ditch them.

I fairly heard one of them talking. I wasn't sure who. I had my ear buds in, as I always did, and couldn't make out the words over my music. I found when wearing ear buds, it as much easier to block people out, and they were less likely to attempt too converse with you.

Thus, I was surprised when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked over to see Ichigo's mouth moving. I removed one of my ear buds, "What?"

"I asking what you were you listening to?"

_Why would he ask such an unnecessary question?_ ..._Fences _by Paramore," I respond, before promptly putting my ear buds back in and blocking everything out more.

A few hours later, the 5 of us were eating lunch on the roof. The beginning of school passed by uneventfully. The teacher introduced me, I was assigned a seat (by Ichigo, coincidentally), and then had 3 hours of lecturing and classwork which I didn't pay much notice to. Due to a "No Electronics" policy, I was without my shields. That didn't mean I took part in an of the conversation, though.

I wasn't paying any attention to what they were saying, That is, until Ryuzo started shouting "Takeshi! Where are your vegetable?! A man needs to eat vegetable to eat proper nutrition!"

"...Say the guy who claims he can talk to carrots," Takeshi retorts.

Before I knew what was happening, I found myself smiling sightly at their banter. The minute I realized what I was doing, I stopped. I hadn't really smiled like that in a long time. And yet, some stupid conversation had managed to make me do so.

I felt someone staring at me, and looked up. It Ichigo. Our eyes met, and I saw him grinning. I quickly looked away, unsettled by the event. _Why/ Why was everyone so damn nice to me? Why won't they just leave me alone?_

The rest of the day was a blur. All I could think about was what had happened at lunch. I was baffled. I couldn't understand why I smiled. After 3 months, why? Of course, I didn't find my answer.

When the bell ran, I quickly gathered my things and tried to make an escape. "Hey, Rime! Wait up!" Haruki exclaimed.

_Shit. _I signed and turned around. "What?"

"Let's walk home together, too!" He said with a certain enthusiasm, and I just couldn't reject his respect.

"...Fine."

And so, the 5 of us began walking home together. First we passed _Happy Water_ and Takeshi left. Then was passed the Hattas' produce stand, and Ryuzo left. Then the same with Haruki, until it was just me and Ichigo. I didn't say anything; neither did he, and I was fine with that

But then, a few minutes later, "Hey..." he began in a solf voice. "You know, you really sho-"

He was cut by loud chatter, the source being people inside the bakery. "Woah, it's really busy. Tch, so much work," he grumbled. Suddenly he looked up, and I could just imagine a light bulb being turned on above this head. _I have a bad feeling about this..._

"Why don't you come inside and help out?" he suggested.

"No," I shot back, without hesitation.

"Oh come on, you can have some cake!"

"No."

"you would be in the back, helping to bake the cakes. It's better than at the café, where you would have to interact with people."

"..." I got out my phone and messaged Johji, _Emergency at the bakery, I'll be helping out there today, _walked inside.

It was chaos inside; filled to capacity. Ichigo grabbed my arm and led me to kitchen. He started explaining what to step-by-step. "...So, all you have to do just prepare the batter like that."

I scoffed. "I'm not a moron, I know how to mix cake batter." I thought I saw a trace of a smile on his face, but it quickly vanished. _Must have just been my imagination._

We silently worked for a while before he cleared his throat and spoke you. "You know...what I was trying to say earlier..."

I looked up at him. He seemed hesitant. "What?"

Now, he was downright uncomfortable. "Y-you...you have a nice smile. You should smile more often," he said so fast, I thought I had misheard him at first. But no, I had heard correctly. His face was completely red, up to the tips of his ears.

I stood there stunned for a minute, before resuming my work."...Why do you care?"

"Huh?" He seemed taken aback by my question.

"Why do you care if I smile more?"

"...I don't."

And that was the end of our conversation. We worked for another few minutes, until he signed. "I'm so frigging' bored," he mumbled and turned on the small TV near us.

"_Family of four in a fatal car accident earlier this morning..." _My entire body froze, my heart started racing, and eyes started tear up. I don't know how long stood there. It was like time has stopped.

"Rime? Rime? Are you okay?" I could hear Ichigo frantically asking, but t was like background noise, faded.

I dropped the whisk I'd been using, and ran out of the bakery as fast as I could. I needed to get out of here, to get away. To escape all the question. To forget.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ichigo's PoV**

I didn't even think about what I was doing. My feet just moved on their own; chasing after Rime. All the way to _Black Ship_, without stopping. All I knew was that I _had _to make sure she was okay. It was like second nature to me.

Ahead of me, I saw her entering the café. I quickly went to follow, but stopped when I heard Johji speak. "Are you okay?"

I stepped back. It was clear he was asking Rime. As I peeked through the window, I saw why anyone would ask. Her face was red from crying, tears still streaming down her face. Her usual bored expression replaced with one of sadness She looked...broken.

She didn't say anything, just continued to cry. Johji signed, and placed an arm around her shoulder, guiding her to a seat. She just sat there, completely motionless.

"Rime...what happened?"He tried again, but she just shook her, clearly not wanting to talk. Seeing giving up, he sat down next to her, silent while she continued to sob.

My heart hurt. I didn't know why she was crying, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she was sad. And I couldn't fix it. I thought about going inside, comforting her. I wanted so badly to hug her; to tell her it was okay. But I didn't. I just stood there, all the while hating myself for not crossing the doorway.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Johji spoke up. "Is it about what happened three mouths ago?" He asked quietly. She still didn't respond. Taking this as a yes, he continued. "It wasn't your fault. You know that, right?"

Her head whipped up, her face now equal parts misery and anger. "It doesn't matter if it wan't my fault."

"Yes, it does. They wouldn't want to see you like this. I don't want to see you like this. You need to move on; live your life. It's a miracle you still have one."

"How am I supposed to live without them?" She shouted, her voice waving "They're gone. And I'm still here. I shouldn't be here! I don't deserve to be here! I don't want to be here!" She half-shouted, half-cried.

It my heart hurt earlier, it was now shattered. I felt my own eyes start to tear up. I couldn't bear to stand there anymore, to see her like that. I realized now she didn't just look broken; she _was_ broken. I turned around and ran as fast as I could, trying to get the image of her crying out of my head.

Back at the bakery, her words wouldn't leave me alone. _I shouldn't be here! I don't deserve to be here! I don't want to be here!_ Every time I recalled them in my head, I would fell like I'd been stabbed in the heart. I'd known she wasn't happy, but to know she didn't wan to be alive was unbearable. I didn't even know why, but didn't focus on the reason. It didn't matter who "they" were, all mattered was Rime. Rime, and the fact she wanted to be dead.

I was so focused on her, that I didn't even hear the chime signaling someone had entered the bakery. I didn't even notice until someone was directly behind me calling my name.

I turned around to see Johji looking at me with an unreadable expression. We stood there for a minute, neither of us speaking.

"I saw you when you ran away," he said, answering my unspoken question.

I remained silent. I was still in a state of stock, and couldn't from a reply.

He signed, for the second time that hour, and began to explain. "Three mouths ago, Rime was in a car accident with her family. They...didn't make it. She did."

I's figured that, but it still hurt to hear. I remembered her parents, they were really good people. "So,she's..." I felt lump in my throat. I couldn't bring myself to say "suicidal". It spoken out loud, it would make it all too real.

Luckily, Johji understood what I couldn't say. "Maybe she wouldn't be, if..." He paused and shot me a worried glance. "...if her boyfriend hadn't been in the car as well."

"I-I see..." I bit my lip and looked away. I should have known. She was an amazing person;it would only make sense for her to date other people who thought the same as I. And yet... some part of me had been thinking she would wait for me as I did for her. I felt stupid now, as well as hurt from finding out that she didn't wan to here, to live.

_Why couldn't she see that I wanted her here? That I loved her?_ If she knew, would just change anything?

"That's why I told you that she just needed a friend right now. She'll get better, she ju-"

"Did she love him?" I asked suddenly, finally looking up at Johji.

He was taken aback, and stayed silent for a moment before opening his month, "Yeah. I think she did."

I nodded and looked down once more. Taking this as signal that I wanted to be left alone, Johji and it was getting late and went back to the café.

I signed and sat down on a chair, with my head in my hands. _How could I not notice?_ I was in love with her, and never even suspected anything. It hurt so much.

And yet, not as much as knowing that Johji was right. All I could do was be her friend. But if she would let me, I would gladly choose that option. Just to be around her and hopefully help her, would make me happy. And et, I know that even though I'll be just her friend, I'll always love her. And I hope she'll know that, too


	5. Chapter 5

**Rime's Pov**

Three weeks had passed since the incident at the bakery. Since then, I hadn't seen Ichigo very much. Until today that is.

it was Saturday evening when he walked café. My shift had just ended and I was about to head up to my room. "Hey, Rime."

"...Hi. What are you doing here?"

He looked uncertain for moment before saying, "Let's go see a movie."

I simply blinked at him."A movie?"

"Yeah, it's Saturday. We don't have school. You use some fun," he explained.

"...No thanks." I would expect this from Rihito or Haruki, but I had thought for sure Ichigo would give me some space. I guess not.

He signed from frustration. "You haven't done _anything _other than go to school, work at the café and hole up in your room since you moved in to town. You could use an outing."

"I'm fine."

A moment of silence passed "Do you want me to drag you down to the cinema? Because I can. And I will," he threatened. I couldn't tell it he was serious or not.

Now it was my turn to sigh. Better to spend a few hours watching a movie than have him keep bugging me. "Fine. Let's go." I waked over toward the door he stood in front of.

"Shouldn't you put coat on? It's under 50 degrees outside," he said with a small frown.

Nah. The cold never bothered me anyway."

And that's how I ended up standing in front the cinema with Ichigo. I was surprised I actually agreed to go. But what was even more surprising was that...I didn't really mind.

"So which movie do you want to see?" He asked. "They have a few good ones; the people at school have been taking about them."

"I don't care."

"Well then...There's a new romance movie," he began, though I could already see a sour look forming on his face.

"No thanks. What about that one?" I asked, pointing to a horror movie.

He looked surprised. "You...you like horror movie?" There was obvious doubt in his voice.

I rolled my eyes. "Not every girl is into sappy crap, you know." I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw his lip twitch.

"Okay then." To the employee, "Two tickets to _Annabelle_."

After the movie, Ichigo walked me back to the café. Though I would never admit it, I had fun. Once we reached the door, I said, "I'll be fine from here. Thanks." For some reason he was looking down at me funny."What?"

He just shook his head. "It's nothing. You were just smiling." I realized he was right. Without even noticing, my face had broken into a grin. It felt...natural. I quickly changed my expression back to my blank one.

This time it was him who was grinning. "I'll see ya later, Rime."

"Yeah. See you." I would continue to ponder what happened until I finally dozed off to sleep.

The next two weeks passed quickly. Something had changed that night we went to the movie, though I wasn't really sure what. We started hanging out more, almost everyday after school to after I finished work at the café. We went to the movie again, listened to music, he even taught me how to decorate cakes.

I found that we had a lot in common, more than anyone else I knew. He understood me; I didn't have to say what I was thinking, he just knew. And before I knew what was happening, I found myself missing him on days we didn't each other.

One day, Ichigo took me to an arcade in town. He was trying to win a stuffed animal out of a claw machine, but like most men, was stubborn an wouldn't give up. $12 worth of quarters later, he finally managed to grab the penguin with the claw. He took his prize out of the machine, a proud look displayed across his face.

When he pressed it to me, I couldn't help but smile. "Penguins are still your favourite, right?" He inquired.

"Yeah, thanks." Then, before I could stop myself, I stood up on my tiptoes, and kissed his cheeks. His whole face reddened like a tomato, and I started laughing at him.

"Hey...knock it off. Just shush and play with your stupid penguin." This, of course, only made me laugh harder.

Suddenly I stopped. I don't know how I changed so much in only a little over mouth, or why. I just that he was some how responsible. I shook my head. "Come on, let's go."


End file.
